BOSTON, June 3 (UPI) -- A suspected terrorist shot by police in Boston allegedly plotted to behead Pamela Geller, a conservative activist who drew attention last month when she held a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.
Hours after police fatally shot Usaama Rahim, 26, they arrested David Wright, who is suspected of conspiring with Rahim.
"We believe the intent was to behead a police officer," a law enforcement official briefed on the case told the Boston Globe on Wednesday. "We knew the plot had to be stopped. They were planning to take action Tuesday."
But before Rahim and Wright allegedly conspired to kill a police officer, they considered targeting Geller, sources told ABC News.
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Law enforcement sources confirmed the details to CNN. Rahim allegedly changed his mind and decided to go after the "boys in blue," because "it's the easiest target," the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston said.
Geller organized a controversial "Draw Muhammad" cartoon contest in Garland, Texas, in May at which two gunmen injured a security guard before they were fatally shot by a police officer. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack after Elton Simpson and his roommate, Nadir Soofi, opened fire.
Geller said she received death threats for defying Islamic laws by hosting the contest and exhibit depicting the prophet Muhammad.
Rahim was shot and killed by a Boston police officer and an FBI agent after waving a large military knife at them. He had been under surveillance for at least two years by the U.S. Joint Terrorism Task Force.
The FBI-led task force had been watching Rahim and two others thought to be radicalized by the Islamic State and other extremists, officials said.
The FBI said they approached Rahim on Tuesday after his behavior began to change, including social media threats to police. Evans said Rahim was shot about 7 a.m. Tuesday. Officials said police and FBI agents approached him in a CVS parking lot, but Rahim lunged at them with the knife.
Rahim's brother Ibrahim, an imam in California, said his brother was shot three times in the back while on the phone with their father at a bus stop.
"His last words to my father who heard the shots were, 'I can't breathe!,'"Rahim said on his Facebook page.
Muslim leaders met Wednesday to view surveillance footage of the shooting. They agreed the footage corresponds with police claims that Rahim lunged at officers prior to the fatal shooting. The leaders called for a full investigation into the incident.
"There were many questions that were not answered," Darnell Williams, head of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, told USA Today. "What the video did tell us was that the gentleman was not on his cellphone. The individual was not shot in the back."
Wright appeared in court Wednesday afternoon on a conspiracy charge. He is accused of attempting to obstruct a federal investigation by destroying evidence on Rahim's smartphone.
The shooting also prompted a search in Rhode Island.
Amy R. Connolly contributed to this report.
